Richard Ali Says -

>As I understand it, the people at Guantanamo are being detained not as
criminal but as prisoners of a military action. Totally different standards.

Indeed they are totally different standards. That's precisely the point.
If you reverse the protagonists you will very easily see a situation that
we would find completely unacceptable: If our soldiers/citizens were
detained in this manner, removed from the country they were captured, taken
to a far off land and treated in the fashion described, we would quite
correctly be appalled and would demand that they be charged or released
immediately. We may even consider such behaviour a war crime and seek the
appropriate justice. Just imagine for a moment that the detainees were US
Marines or British troops.

I say -

No one has been able to prove these people are not being treated as POW's.

If our US Marines or British troops were treated as POW's in a war, some
might be 'appalled' but without a basis for claiming a treatment outside
of the Geneva Convention there is no cause for objection.

Barring a war crimes trial of some sort, I expect these people will be
returned when their government requests it.  Right now I am not sure
there is a 'government' in Afghanistan to do this.

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